Patchwork Stitches
by whiteraven1606
Summary: Coulson does what he can for Stark during and after the events of Iron Man 3. (Categorized into the Avengers category, because there is no Iron Man movie category.)


Coulson scowled at the news feed. "I need to be out there helping them, Boss."

Fury sighed. "If you could stand up for more than two minutes at a time I might consider it."

Phil fumed silently as the news started freaking out about the attack on Stark's home. "I can at least talk to Dr. Banner before the news filters down to the Amazon village he is in currently."

"Ten minutes after Banner gets to a working phone they'll all know."

Cocking his eyebrow at Fury, Phil tried not to wince as he worked his way to the edge of his hospital bed. "Were you planning on leaving me dead?"

"No." Fury helped him shrug into a shirt. "I didn't want to tell them and have you decide to die again from your massive injury."

"Fair enough." Phil carefully controlled his breathing as he straightened his slacks that Fury handed him. "Does anyone know yet?"

"No, Hill thinks I'm visiting Auntie Latrice."

Phil snorted. "That's...great. You don't have an Auntie that's still alive."

Fury nodded. "I think she thinks I've found a romantic intrest."

With a shake of his head, Phil worked his feet into shoes. "I want Barton with me."

Fury frowned. "You aren't going to the Amazon."

"Which do you want? A Hulk incident or a tired Banner on his way to Stark's New York Tower?"

"Stark wouldn't have threatened the Mandarin if he didn't think he could handle it."

Phil glared. "Boss, Happy was hurt. You do remember what both I and Natasha agree on when it comes to Stark's personality profile."

Fury wrinkled his nose. "Don't piss off Banner and take Barton with you."

"No problem, Boss."

* * *

Bruce Banner wiped his face with a rag. He was too hot and bone weary. He ran his hand over his short shorn hair. He still wasn't used to it, but it had at least helped with the feel of his hair in the humid heat.

There was a rise in the general noise level and then a lot of shouting started up. Bruce grabbed up his bag and peeked out of the hut thru a gap in the wall. He couldn't see anyone hostile, just the whole village clumped up and looking towards the tiny trail into the village.

Bruce turned and started for the back of the hut. He could get out and into the jungle before the newcomers made it to the village proper. Forcing his way through the flimsy wall, Bruce looked at the wall of jungle several feet away.

An arrow appeared between his feet as it imbedded itself in the ground. The fletching was green and purple stripes. Bruce clutched his bag to himself and looked in the direction the arrow had come from. He couldn't see anyone, but it looked like one of Clint's arrows.

Bruce pulled it out of the ground and slung his bag over his shoulder as he came around the edge of the hut. Frowning, Bruce stopped as the crowd of villagers parted to show Agent Coulson leaning on a walking stick nearly as tall as he was.

Blinking, Bruce waved the arrow at Coulson. "Tell him to get down here so I can smack him for scaring me."

The corner of Coulson's mouth lifted. "You aren't going to ask how I survived?"

Bruce moved closer and looked Coulson over carefully. "Tony wondered about you maybe not being dead in the weeks after the battle before he got so jittery he went to Malibu. I listened to all his theories." Bruce frowned. "What has happened?"

"Stark's former bodyguard was hurt in a bombing." Coulson turned his head as Clint came up beside him. "Did you have to fire at him?"

Clint shrugged and took his arrow from Bruce. "He was going to run. I figured he'd wait if he saw my arrow." Clint smiled at Bruce. "I added some green in on some of them for the Big Guy."

Bruce forced a smile. "That's...great."

Coulson sighed. "Reporters questioned Stark after he'd been to the hospital. Stark told the whole world his home address and taunted the terrorist claiming responsibility for the bombing to come and fight him."

Bruce rubbed the back of his neck. "How bad was the attack on the house?"

Clint grimaced. "Tony is currently presumed dead."

Blowing out a breath, Bruce held his bag out towards Clint. "Presumed? How presumed are we talking?"

Coulson watched Clint sing Bruce's bag up into his shoulder with his quiver. "JARVIS went missing at the same time. His backup servers in New York didn't boot him up. I checked the overrides and it gave his location status as Tennessee."

"Tennessee?" Bruce frowned as he rubbed the edge of his ear. "Why would he be in...You know what, we'll talk about it on a plane." He started past Coulson and then twisted to look back at him. "Plane. No helicopters. Understood?"

Coulson nodded as Clint slipped close, ready to catch him if needed. "No helicopters, Doctor."

* * *

In the air, Phil leaned back into his comfy seat, as Clint called Potts.

"Ma'am? I'm Clint Barton." Clint frowned and then his eyebrows went up. "You're sure it was after the attack?" He nodded. "That's awesome, ma'am. Uh, huh." He frowned and made grabby hands at Phil.

He fished a pen and paper from his jacket pocket and handed it over.

Clint scribbled something down and kept making affirmative noises. "We'll do what we can, ma'am. If anyone can figure out where the Mandarin actually is it'll be Stark." He nodded again. "No problem. If you have any trouble just call."

Phil raised his eyebrow as Clint grinned at them.

"He left a voice message for Pepper after the attack. He was alive and well enough to talk at a normal pace."

"That's good." Bruce jumped at the plane shuddered for a moment. "I don't think I like planes any better than helicopters."

Phil took the paper Clint was holding out and frowned down at it. "Really?"

"Pepper isn't sure if the woman was lying about having a child or not. Might possibly be Stark's if a kid does exist."

Finding secrets was Phil's favorite secondary duty. "I'll look into it."

* * *

Bruce couldn't have been happier to see a couch, but he was also more tired than he had thought possible. He'd been hustled into Tony's New York Tower straight from the tarmac. Clint had disappeared right after they'd arrived.

Bruce stood over the glass covered Loki-shaped dents in the floor and stared out at the city. "Why the hell am I even here?"

Coulson nudged him towards the couch and held out a pair of glasses. "Rest while you can. Stark should be here in a couple of hours."

Bruce sighed and settled on the couch, rubbing his hand over his short hair. "You're sure that the Army won't be notified I came into the country? I know I bypassed Customs and all, but..."

Coulson clapped Bruce on the shoulder. "The Army thinks you are in Siberia right now, Doctor Banner."

"Oh." Bruce blinked. "Okay."

Coulson's phone beeped. He looked at it and frowned deeply. "I need to go retrive someone." He glanced up at Bruce. "Doctor Banner, I assure you that only the Avengers, myself, and Miss Potts know exactly where you are."

Bruce just nodded and let himself sink into the couch. He stared up at the ceiling and tried to will himself to sleep.

* * *

Phil frowned up at the group home as he stepped out of the SHEILD car. He found the office and explained he what he had come for. He handed over the proper paperwork as the tired looking worker checked with a supervisor.

Then, Phil followed the worker down a hallway to a rec room with a group of young teens huddled around a game console and a battered TV. In the far corner was a boy reading.

"Thomas?"

The boy looked up from his book. "Yes?"

The worker motion for Thomas to come over. "This is Agent Coulson from SHEILD."

The boy nodded to Phil and bit his lip. "Mother got killed, didn't she?"

Phil moved back into the hallway and the boy followed, the worker pulling the rec room door closed. He moved closer to Thomas as Phil crouched down.

"I'm sorry, Thomas. Your mother was killed several days ago."

Thomas pressed his lips together as he wrapped his arms around himself. "She thought she was going to get killed. She said she was going to tell Dad about us."

Phil cocked his head. "Us?"

Thomas blinked up at him. "Oh, uh...yeah." He looked at the worker. "Just me?"

The worker grimaced. "There is only paperwork to release you to Agent Coulson."

Phil stood back up. "Only because I did not know there was a half-sibling. I'll have the proper paperwork here in less than an hour."

Thomas ducked his head as Phil put his hand gently on the boy's shoulder.

* * *

Phil herded the two children towards his car. The smaller child turned out to be a girl five years old named Tamsen. Phil assumed a home birth because they couldn't find a birth certificate to match the file's information on the girl.

Phil helped them buckle up and frowned as he placed a hand on the girl's forehead. "You are hot."

She leaned away from him. "I'm fine."

Thomas batted at Phil's hand as Phil tried to check him. "We're always hot. We're alright. I promise."

Phil backed off and got into the car. Stark didn't know about them yet. He'd gone into surgery to remove the arc reactor before Phil had been able to brief him.

* * *

Tony drove from Malibu to New York with the wrecks of his bot's bodies on the trailer behind the car. He stopped only for gas, bathrooms, and to frown at Steve when he met up with Tony in Kansas. Steve had just patted Dum-E's housing and nodded to Tony.

"I'm sorry, Tony. I'll help you fix them if you don't mind."

Tony huffed. "I can do it..."

"I know that." Steve pulled Tony into a hug that had him nearly gasping from the anxiety it brought up. "I'm glad you aren't dead, Tony."

"Okay, yeah...Me too. Back off now. Please, okay? I need to breathe."

Steve let him go with a smile. "I'll ride along. Phil said that he and Clint got Bruce from the Amazon and talked him into staying at the Tower until you got there."

Tony blinked, swaying as he tried to catch his breath. "What? Agent is..." Tony stopped and put both hands on Dum-E's arm. "He _isn't_ dead?"

"No. He called me while everyone thought _you_ were dead. He left the hospital against their advice."

"Huh." Tony patted Dum-E as he straightened up. "We need to make a pit stop in Tennessee."

Steve blinked. "Okay."

* * *

Bruce helped Steve shift Dum-E off the trailer to the floor of Tony's workshop. "Which one is this?"

Tony hauled parts of Butterfingers over to a workbench. "That's Dummy. He's my first robot that survived."

"What happened to them, exactly?"

Tony smiled at him. "It's an epic story. I'll tell you all about it." He looked over the bots. "Actually, let's do that while JARVIS scans the boys and sees what all I need to do." Tony pointed at Steve. "Tomorrow morning, bright and not early I expect you down here to help like you said you would."

"Sure, Tony." Steve headed for the elevator. "I'll see you both tomorrow."

"Not early!" Tony grinned and wrapped an arm around Bruce's shoulders. "What happened to your hair?"

Bruce let Tony move them to the elevator. "I was working in the Amazon, Tony. I got hot."

"You look ridiculous. I liked the curly flop look on you. Hey, does this mean that Big Green has short hair too? He'd look dumb with short hair, Brucey."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Tony...I've had a long day, can you not irritate me for five minutes?"

"Irritate? I don't irritate you, do I, honey boo? I'm just a simple man with simple needs..."

Bruce shoved Tony towards the lounge couch near the far wall of his lab. "Don't start calling me ridiculous names, Tony."

Tony flopped down on the little lounge couch and smiled up at Bruce as he sat down on the other couch against the windows with a sigh. "Long day? Really?"

Bruce pinched his nose, pushing up his glasses as he dropped his head forward. "Long. Clint decided to see if he could surprise me. He kept jumping out from behind corners or dropping from the vents."

Tony folded his hands over his chest. "He didn't cause you to Hulk out."

"Don't call it that." Bruce took his glasses off and yawned. "No, but he made me tired."

Tony poked Bruce's knee. "You going to listen to my story or are you going to fall asleep?"

Bruce shrugged and propped his head up on his hand. "Depends on how good a storyteller you are."

Tony grinned wide. "Alright, sure. Let's see...Where do I start?"

"At the beginning?"

* * *

Coulson herded Thomas and Tamsen through the lobby to the elevator. They rose up into the Tower until suddenly the elevator lurched to a stop.

"Agent Coulson."

Phil glanced up at the ceiling. "JARVIS? Are you alright? I thought Stark had rebooted you."

"Agent Coulson, there appears to be two small Extremis soldiers with you. Are you under duress?"

Phil looked down at the two children. Thomas was frowning at the ceiling and shielding the girl with his own body. "I'm not under duress, JARVIS. Why do you think the children are Extremis soldiers?"

Thomas grimaced. "We aren't...sort of. It's complicated."

Phil blinked. "Alright. Are either of you going to blow up in the next hour?"

They both shook their heads.

"We can't blow up like that." Thomas looked up at Phil. "We're...different. Mom added stuff her boss stole from a super soldier program." He bit his lip as Tamsen smacked him on the shoulder. "We don't want to be dissected."

Phil at least knew how to handle that. "You aren't going to be dissected." He went out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. "Please sit on the couch. I'm going to see if I can find Mr. Stark."

Thomas kept close to Tamsen as they sat on the couch. "He still doesn't know about us, huh?"

Phil frowned as he turned back towards them. "Us? Both of you?" He frowned. "I thought your mother had...met Mr. Stark only the one time."

Tamsen shifted to her knees and looked over the back of the couch. "It's complicated."

Phil rubbed at his chest where it was aching. "Of course, it is."

* * *

Bruce let Tony rib him for falling asleep until Coulson knocked on the lab door. "Tony."

Tony turned and he bounced up from the lounge as though he'd just woken up. "Agent! Back from the dead. Are you a zombie? JARVIS has protocols for zombies."

Coulson frowned as he came in the lab. "No, Stark, I am not a zombie. I have some news you will want to sit down for."

Tony frowned. "Shit. She did have a kid."

Bruce cocked his head. "She? What are we talking about?"

Tony half-turned towards Bruce. "Well, if _someone_ hadn't fallen asleep he'd know."

Bruce smiled at Phil over Tony's shoulder. "If someone were a better storyteller maybe I wouldn't have fallen asleep."

"Hah!" Tony poked Bruce in the ribs. "Just admit it. You meant to fall asleep so you wouldn't have to hear how I got a bunch of people killed because I snubbed an annoying person years ago."

Bruce ignored that and turned Tony towards Coulson. "I think you might want to pay attention, Tony."

"I can pay attention, unlike some people." Tony poked Bruce in the side before focusing on Coulson. "The kid is mine?"

"That's not the complicated part."

Tony frowned. "What?"

* * *

Thomas held Tamsen's hand. "It'll be alright."

"He won't like us. He'll sell us like the bad Boss wanted to."

"No. Mother always said that Dad was a good man that hid inside a pain in the ass."

Tamsen giggled. "You aren't supposed to repeat that."

"I know." Thomas pulled Tamsen close. "I was practically a freak before Mother did the stuff to me that made me into us. Mother said that Dad won't make us lab specimens or sell us or make us do bad things."

Tamsen nodded and dug her head into Thomas' shoulder. "Are we going to show him everything?"

"Maybe." Thomas frowned at the elevator, wishing it was all over with and he could find a safe place to cry. "I don't know yet."

* * *

Tony turned to Coulson. "They've got Extremis."

Coulson nodded. "JARVIS was worried I was under duress and that they were Extremis soldiers. They both insisted they can't blow up."

Bruce frowned at the video feed of the living room where the children were huddled on the big couch. "Can't?"

"That's what the boy, Thomas, said. That their mother had done something extra to them with things Killian had stolen from a super soldier program."

Bruce covered his mouth with one hand. "There's only one super soldier program, Coulson."

"It depends which era of the program she stole from." Tony flicked the screen around. "J, what does their DNA give us?"

"Sir, the boy appears to have...I believe the program era that Dr. Hansen stole from was Weapon X's era."

"Shit." Tony sat down. "That's...not good. Very not good."

Coulson crossed his arms. "What exactly do you know, Stark?"

Tony scrubbed his hand through his hair. "Uh, okay, so the super soldier program was meant to recreate Weapon I, Steve Rogers." Tony waved his hand around as he spoke. "There was an offshoot of the program that made several attempts at improving the serum." Tony waved his hand at Bruce. "General Ross wasn't part of that offshoot. He's his own brand of crazy."

Tony flicked a screen up to show a lineup of people. "They did some nasty things." He pointed at Weapon X. "That one they dissolved his bones and injected metal. He heals instantly..." Tony's eyes snapped to the screen showing the children. "Fuck. They can't blow up."

Bruce scrolled through the data on Weapon X as Tony pulled up scans on the children.

* * *

Steve strolled into the living room to find two children sitting on the couch. "Oh, ah...hello."

The boy held the girl to himself and eyed Steve closely. "Hello. Who are you?"

"I'm Steve." He sat down in the chair near the couch. "Who are you two?"

"I'm Thomas." He poked the girl. "This is my sister, Tamsen."

Steve tilted his head. "Isn't that a female form of Thomas?"

The girl blinked at him. "You're big."

Steve smiled awkwardly. "Uhm, yes. Yes, I am." He turned his head as the elevator opened. "Tony..."

Tony held up a finger as he sat on the coffee table in front of the children. "Okay. Look, I'm sorry about your mother. I only talked to her for one night, really. She had a great idea that could eventually, one day, save loads of people." He grimaced as he cocked his head. "She worked for a nasty guy and that didn't...work out."

Thomas raised his eyebrows. "You want to know how Tamsen happened, don't you?"

Tony made a face even as he nodded. "No, well, yeah. Actually, I'd really like a nap, but yes, story time. How did you end up with a female clone of you?"

Tamsen kicked at Tony's knee. "I'm not a clone."

Thomas shook his head. "She's not a clone. We don't think, at least." He shrugged. "Mr. Killian upset Mother and she wanted to leave. He didn't want that so he took me and said he'd inject me with Mother's Extremis stuff. She cried and promised to do what he wanted, but he injected me anyway."

Tamsen wrapped Thomas in a hug as she looked at Tony. "He knew Thomas was your kid. He hated us when we were just Thomas."

Tony blinked.

Thomas sighed and leaned against Tamsen. "I was going to blow up. Extremis wasn't meant to handle someone with a extra chromosome. Mother grabbed up something Mr. Killian had stolen and injected me with it."

Tamsen patted Thomas as he trailed off, staring at his hands. "Extremis got really hot. It hurt a lot and we started to tear apart. I fell to the floor and Thomas stayed in the restraints. I was really angry and I charged at Killian, who was staring at us."

Thomas sniffed hard and rubbed his nose. "She..." He looked up at Tony. "You promise you aren't going to take us apart?"

Tony shook his head and cross his heart with his finger. "I swear. Promise. I'll pinky swear." He held out his pinky towards them for several seconds before dropping his hand. "No? Really, you don't know that one? Don't worry, I'll teach you." He waved his hand at them. "Do continue. It was just getting really good."

Tamsen smiled. "I clawed him. I can do this." She made a fist and three little bone claws popped out between her knuckles. She jerked her thumb towards her brother. "He heals faster than I do."

Thomas bumped her with his shoulder. "We got different stuff. The DNA says my extra X from you went to Tamsen and the X from Mother was copied into Tamsen."

Tony scratched behind his ear with a fingertip. "Alrighty. So..." He grimaced and leaned forward. "Look. I'll tell you right now I'm going to suck as a parent. I have no idea what I'm doing here."

Thomas pulled Tamsen against himself. "We'll be good. We promise. Just don't give us to Mr. Killian."

Tamsen fisted her hand in Thomas' shirt. "Or sell us."

Tony reared back like he'd been struck. "Sell you? Oh, hell no."

"Tony."

Tony frowned at Steve. "Don't scold me for forcefully reassuring the kids as to their safety." He turned back to Thomas and Tamsen. "So, Tamsen looks younger because she's not aging as fast, right?"

They both nodded.

Tony tapped his fingers on his chin. "Okay. I'll give myself a crash course in kid care. Meantime, priorities." Tony clapped his hands together. "Are you two hungry?"

Thomas looked from Tony to Steve and back. "That's it? You're going to just...keep us? No fight or anything?"

"Fight? What would I fight?" Tony poked each of them on the bottom of their feet. "DNA says you are my kids. I might not know what I'm doing, yet, but I know I can learn." He cupped their shoulders. "I won't leave either of you." He jerked his hands back. "Wow, you _are_ hot."

* * *

Bruce was about to flip on his computer when Tony came in, yawning. "I thought you said not early."

"Yeah, well, somebody didn't listen to me yesterday." Tony flopped down on the couch against the window. "You be the lounge this time. Not the temperament, my ass."

Bruce smiled as he lay back. "You realize this position will probably put me to sleep with your boring retellings."

"You watched a video of yesterday, didn't you? J, did Brucey ask you to replay my blow by blow recount of the clusterfuck from Christmas?"

"He did not directly ask me for that footage, sir."

Tony put his feet up on the edge of the lounge. Bruce started to tie his shoes together. Tony smiled at him as he did.

"Uh huh." Tony pointed at his own chest. "You didn't even comment on the blank slate."

Bruce glanced up from where he was triple knotting Tony's shoelaces. "I didn't think I needed to. You know it isn't there anymore."

"Did I tell you I had blue snot for two days afterwards? I think breathing in Extremis ash did it."

Bruce pushed Tony's feet off the lounge. "How about we get Steve down to the workshop and you can tell us both while we help you put the robots back together?"

Tony shucked his shoes off with a grin. "Deal."


End file.
